Ice Hockey: Aberdeen Lynx stars need to find ‘an edge’

Aberdeen Lynx head coach Owen Reynolds hopes his team can use a big Scottish Cup win over Kilmarnock Thunder to turn around their Scottish National League form.

Over the festive period, the Lynx suffered back-to-back defeats in the SNL, first falling 5-2 to Kirkcaldy Kestrels in Fife, before a 6-1 home loss to high-flying Dundee Comets.

The results have seen the Granite City side slide down to the middle of the division with four matches remaining.

However, a comfortable cup tie win against Kilmarnock since the turn of the year has brightened the mood at the Linx Ice Arena.

At the midpoint in the league campaign, with Solway Stingrays’ visit this weekend offering a chance to pick up points, Reynolds wants his team to start finding “an edge”.

He said: “It wasn’t the greatest festive period for the Lynx with defeats to Kirkcaldy Kestrels and Dundee Comets.

“Realistically, they are teams we should be able to compete with but we’re definitely lacking an edge against the better teams.

“The Kestrels came out really quick and had us on the back foot and we definitely didn’t perform to our potential.

“Despite missing several players, we were much improved against the Comets and the scoreline didn’t reflect the game.

“I thought we deserved more but they simply took their chances while we failed to capitalise on ours. John Dolan was outstanding for the Comets and really proved he’s a class above.

“Fortunately, we were able to bounce back with a comfortable win against Kilmarnock Thunder, which sees us progress to the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

“We now face either Dundee Comets or Paisley Pirates, so a much tougher prospect all together.”

On Saturday’s return to league duty, Reynolds said: “On the back of the Kilmarnock result, we’ll now be looking to string together a few wins, starting with Solway Stingrays at home this Saturday.

“Despite having some mixed results this season, Solway are more than capable of creating an upset on their day.

“We picked up a win in the away fixture earlier in the season, but know all too well that complacency could be costly.

“Hopefully it’s not just a win but a good performance, too, as there are some tricky games on the horizon. We tend to just take each game as it comes but, looking ahead, our last four league fixtures are against the top four teams.

“It’s important we’re prepared and playing well, knowing that games are going to get increasingly tougher now the second half of the season is under way.”